Big Red Fall 2015

BIG RED VOLUME 9 • NO. 1 • HOMECOMING EDITION 2015

BIGBIG RED RED VOLUME 9 • NO. 1 • HOMECOMING EDITION 2015 VOLUME 9 • NO. 1 • HOMECOMING EDITION 2015

BIGBIG RED RED

BRING IT ON

BIG RED is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, the upper school newspaper at Harvard-Westlake School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604, produced as a part of Advanced Journalism classes. Th e school has 1,500 students in grades 9-12. For any questions, or to purchase a subscription or to advertise, please contact us at [email protected] or at (818)487-6512. Copies of BIG RED are distributed free on campus to students and faculty and are mailed to friends and family by subscription at $15 per year. Letters to the editor can be sent to editor-in-chief Grant Nussbaum, at [email protected]. BIG RED is a general interest magazine about athletics, including teams and individual athletic pursuits of Harvard-Westlake students and faculty, as well as health and fi tness topics. For seasonal coverage of Wolverine teams, see Th e Chronicle or www.hwchronicle.com.

theStaff

Cover Image by Bennett Gross

On the Cover: The star of the fi eld hockey,

football and girls’ volleyball teams (from left

to right: Claire Quinn ’16, Mike Mapes ’16 and

Zoe Baxter ’16 ) hope to lead their teams to CIF

championships after good starts thus far.advisers

Luke Holthouse, Grant Nussbaum, Melissa Wantz

editor-in-chiefBennett Gross, Jonathan Seymour,

Henry Vogel

assistant editorsEllis Becker, Julianna Berger, Elly Choi, Zac

Harleston, Joe Levin, Jake Liker, Dario Madyoon, Carina Marx, Emily Rahhal, Rian Ratnavale, Connor Reese, Oliver Richards, Cameron Stine, Bryant Wu

THEPlaybookConnor Reese: HEAD FANATICS

2 • BIG RED HOMECOMING 2015

BIG REDFALL 2015 • VOLUME 9 • NO. 1

CONNOR REESE/BIG RED

Cameron Stine:

E-SPORTS

Big Red Staff : HOMECOMING PREVIEW

Bryant Wu:JOSIE BAKER

More than ever, athletes are balancing harder and harder schedules in school while participating in ultra-competitive varsity sports.

Big Red Staff : ROUNDTABLE

Big Red Staff : FOOTBALL LINEUP

Rian Ratnavale:

HONOR ROLL ATHLETES

Two senior rowers travel to Massachussetts to participate in a prestigious rowing competition this fall.

Ellis Becker: ROWING

3

10-13

14-17

18

Students participate in the growing ESports phenomenon. Some have joined teams, while others are avid fans that follow games on the website Twitch.

THE

19

20

24-25

26-27Sophomore golfer Josie Baker excels on the girls’ golf team following her stellar freshman season that came up just short of the CIF playoff s.

Jake Liker:

WEST SIDE STORYFour baseball players are in the fall musical, West Side Story. Read about their transition from stadium lights to spotlights.

8-9

Joe Levin: MARSHAL COHENWeeks aft er tearing his ACL for the second time in three years, Marshal Cohen put his head down and looks to his future both on and off the football fi eld.

A look at the Wolverines’ starting football lineup for this year’s Homecoming game against La Salle..

22-23

Th e Big Red staff debates which Wolverine will suprise the school in the second half of their season, which team will dominate and gives their bold predictions.

photographerCaitlin Neapole

BIG RED HOMECOMING 2015 • 3

NOAH ROTHMAN ’16

MIKE MAPES ’16

GABE GOLOB ‘16

ALEX OSER ’16

Since the Fanatics inception in 2006, the Fanatics have received praise and complaints. Th e main grievance the Fanatics receive con-cerns their lack of attendance to less popular sports and less popu-lar games.

“We are trying to increase the overall fan experience at every ath-letic competition,” Gabe Golob ‘16 said. “We are going to incorporate new fun cheers at basketball games such as the roller coaster and may-be even a silent night.”

With the fi rst games of league play underway, the head fanatics are looking forward to increased turnout at games.

“We’ve seen some good show outs, but we’re defi nitely trying to get more and more people to come to the games,” Noah Rothman ‘16 said. “We haven’t had home foot-ball games in a while, but we have Homecoming and Senior Night coming up, which I think will bring a lot of energy. People are very ex-cited for basketball season, and I think more and more fanatics will start coming out.”

Th e fanatics hope to create an encouraging home environment for Wolverine athletes, while also creating an unfriendly environ-ment for opposing teams.

“Th e goal for the fanatics for the rest of the year is to create a hostile environment for opposing teams and an exciting environment for our teams,” Mike Mapes ‘16 said. “Nothing is more fun than for a team to play in front of a large and loud home crowd. We hope to give this experience to as many teams and games as we can.”

Th e fi ve seniors were chosen by last year’s head fanatics.

Th is year, Alexandria Oser ‘16 becomes the third ever female to be a head fanatic. Th e other four head fanatics are Mapes, Nick Richmond ‘16, Golob and Rothman.

“I think the goal of the fanatics every year should be to increase the popularity of all sports on campus and make sure that every team gets to have a ‘home court advantage’ when they play at Harvard-West-lake,” Gabe Golob ‘16 said.

Social media is a tool that the

fanatics use oft en. Th e HW Fa-natics ‘15-’16 Facebook page has over 400 members, and is used frequently by the head fanatics to announce where and when games will be held. Th e page is also used to update students on the results of games.

“We, of course, want to in-crease fan attendance to all sports so we’re using social media as a tool even more than in the past,” Rich-mond said.

Students believe the fanatics have been doing a good job so far this year about increasing interest in going to sporting events.

“Th e fanatics group is very good at hyping events up and en-courages attendance,” Keon Nikne-jad ‘17 said. “I’m not sure if it ac-tually increases attendance, but it defi nitely gets the word out.”

But maybe this years’ fanatics are diff erent.

“I feel that turnouts for athletic events have been larger this year when compared with years past,” Hailey de la Vara ‘17 said.

NICK RICHMOND ’16

FANATICSFANATICSBY ZAC HARLESTON AND CONNOR REESE


RIAN RATNAVALE/BIG RED

HOME FREERight: Loyal

Terry ’19 dodges a defender in the Wolverines’ 44-23 route of Jefferson High School Sept. 4

SERVES UPLeft: Zoe

Baxter ’16 serves the ball during the Wolverines’ 3-0 victory over Marlborough Oct. 1

AQUAMANBottom: Ben

Hallock ’16 winds up to shoot the ball in the Wolverines’ 18-5 victory against Huntington Beach Oct. 5


BENNETT GROSS/BIG RED

MILA BARZDUKAS/BIG RED

SKYWALKERRight: Jenna

Moustafa ’17 rallies with her opponent at a preseason practice.

PROTECT THIS HOUSE

Goalie Sam Krutonog ’18 saves a shot in the boys’ water polo team’s 18-5 win over the Hunington Beach Oilers. CONNOR REESE/BIG RED

In the SpotlightBY JAKE LIKER

Four baseball players swap their baseball uniforms for costumes to act in “West Side Story.”

In May of 2013, the stage was a fl oodlight-rid-den Dodger Stadium, and the players looked to their teammates for support. In November of 2015, four baseball players will perform West

Side Story under the spotlights of a diff erent stage, that of Rugby Auditorium, leaning on their cast-mates for encouragement.

The road to Rugby has been a much more anx-iety-provoking experience for the players.

“When I was auditioning it was the most ner-vous I’d ever been, more nervous than I had ever been for any baseball game,” Jake Suddleson ‘16, who was cast as Lieutenant Schrank, said. “It gave me so much respect for what those guys do, be-cause it takes a lot to get up in front of people and sing or dance and really put yourself out there.”

Tall, broad-shouldered and with a band-aid on his forehead (a teammate dropped a dumb-bell on his head in the weight room), Suddleson looks the part of a police of-fi cer. And that’s without mentioning his most defi ning feature.

“I’ve always thought that Jake Sud-dleson has a wonderful speaking voice,” performing arts teacher Ted Walch said. “It’s a very deep, very interesting, very adult voice which makes him extremely suitable for an adult role.”

Walch is arguably the theater de-partment’s most apt ambassador to the baseball team. He’s a co-director of the play, has worked with student actors for 51 years and is a devout fan of the school’s baseball team. So it was only fi tting that he was the one who picked Suddleson and two other seniors, McCabe Slye ’16 and Paul Giacomazzi ’16, to try out.

“I’ve been working with student actors for 51 years, and you can somehow just sense something in somebody. I sensed particularly in Slye, a kind of a natural gift, what I thought would be a gift for acting,” Walch said.

Giacomazzi was cast as Luis, one of the Sharks, but if you had told him two years ago that he would be in the musical, he wouldn’t have believed you.

“I would never—I’d be like ‘there’s no way, I wouldn’t want to do that,’” Giacomazzi admitted. “But now that I’ve done it, it’s actually pretty cool.”

Slye also had no prior experience with theater other than a fourth grade play for which he was as-

signed a role. Despite getting cold feet about au-ditioning in September, he was reminded that he had made a promise to Walch.

“[Suddleson and I] thought [auditioning] was a cool idea, and it would be a great way to repay Mr. Walch for all the support he’s given us over the last few years,” Slye said.

Slye was cast as Riff , who is “arguably the third largest role in the play, if you want to look at it that way,” Walsh said. The last time the school put on a production of West Side Story in 1997, Jake Gyllen-haal was cast as Riff . Jason Segel was Lieutenant Schrank, Suddleson’s role.

“I did not expect [to be cast as Riff ],” Slye said. “I actually wrote on my audition sheet, ‘just so you know, I’m not sure if I can sing or dance.’”

But when it comes to being in motion, the role of Action is the most centered on moving around.

Playing Action is Casey Giolito ‘17, who, unlike the others, didn’t need to be prodded to join the production. He already planned on joining before the other players decided to.

“I’ve been acting since I was in 5th grade, and it’s what I want to do as a pro-fession when I grow up,” Giolito said.

Walsh said Giolito’s energy fi ts the role.

“I love his height. He’s 6 feet 5 inches tall. I love his jittery energy. His role is

about a guy who can’t sit still, and Giolito can’t sit still, so it works out very well,” Walch said.

For all four players, theater has been a learning experience, yet a surprisingly similar one to base-ball.

“On the baseball team, if you are on time to something, then you’re late, and if you’re early to something, then you’re on time. So to every rehearsal that we’ve had, Slye, Suddleson, Gia-comazzi and I have gotten there at least 30 min-utes before and it boggles the minds of the other kids, but we’re just so used to it and the directors love it,” Giolito said.

Walch noted their discipline, their work ethic, and yes, even their punctuality. But there is one big diff erence Giolito picked up on between the fi eld and the stage.

“Girls. No girls on the baseball fi eld, that’s for sure,” Giolito said.

nathanson’s

Mccabe Slye ’16

MOVINGFORWARD

Marshal Cohen ’16 has battled a bad knee, but he never let setbacks kill his passion for football. As another injury ends his high school career, Cohen puts his head down and works hard,

looking to the future.


By Joe Levin

Marshal Cohen ‘16 bobbles a snap and sprints towards his off ensive line. It’s the fi rst game of his senior year, and it’s the big one. Loyola. Two years ago, on this same fi eld, Cohen and his Wolverines shocked everybody with a win. But that was two years ago. Th at was an ACL tear, a surgery and hours of rehab ago.

Th ere’s nowhere to run on the inside, so Cohen bounces to the open fi eld. He started the game with an interception but followed that with a big run to get his team where they are now: inside the 20-yard-line, about to tie the game up.

He sprints past the 15, the 10-yard-lines, and he sees a safety coming his way. He plants his foot to cut, and the safety comes in low to make the hit, below that surgi-cally repaired left knee. Cohen fl ies in the air and lands on top of the safety, but the knee does not move. He hears the sound that has haunted him for the last two years, the sound he never wanted to hear again. It sounds like someone bit-ing into a carrot, the sound of car-tilage and ligaments and scar tissue snapping, the sound of high school hopes and dreams ripping in half.

He tries to jog to the sideline, but it hurts too much to run. Th e team doctor does his tests, and without saying a word, looks at the trainer. Th e trainer looks at Cohen, and he knows.

He lies back on the trainer’s ta-ble, puts a towel over his face, and begins to cry.

Cohen was too big for Pop Warner when he signed up at eight. He wanted to play quarterback, like everybody else, but he looked like an eight-year-old off ensive line-men, so that’s where the coach played him.

Two years of off ensive line, and Cohen had had enough. He

searched for another team that would let him play quarterback, and he found one in the Wilshire Huskies. He still remembers the fi rst play when everything clicked, when he went from dreaming of playing in college to knowing he would play in college. He remem-bers watching NFL players on TV and being able to translate their moves to the Pop Warner fi elds.

It was his fi rst game with the new team. In his purple uniform, he got his handle on a bad snap, and then raced outside. A defender was coming, and Cohen planted, cut and got free. Th en he juked another guy. It was only a 10-yard gain, but it was enough.

“I can do this,” Cohen thought. “Th is is fun.”

He was hooked. Football was taking him places.

When Cohen reached middle school, he knew had to fi nd a school with a real, tackle football team. It didn’t matter what division they were in. He didn’t know what divisions were, as long as there were pads and helmets and goal posts. Th at’s how he ended up at Brentwood, which plays in, as Cohen describes it, “Division 13.”

As a freshman, he should have started at varsity quarterback, and according to Cohen, anyone on the team would agree. But the coach leaned on seniority, and the other quarterback was a senior. Cohen’s varsity dreams were dead in the water. Th e JV team that he led went undefeated, the fi rst JV team to do so in school history.

In their fi rst game, they were winning 44-0 at half time. Th e second half was mayhem; the JV coach let Cohen call plays. Off en-sive linemen lined up at receiver. Th e game was over, and they were just boys playing football, having fun.

Aft er the game, the varsity

coach learned what happened. Fu-rious, he went to every JV player’s helmet and ripped off the wing decals, so they were just plain and blue.

“We knew we were good,” Co-hen explains now. “And he didn’t like that.”

It was only a few more weeks before Cohen knew he had to transfer. He wanted to play foot-ball, and he had gotten a taste of that. Now, he had to play real high school football.

“It was fun, but it wasn’t chal-lenging,” Cohen said of his time at Brentwood. “It wasn’t competitive.”

He met Chad Kanoff ‘13, then Har-vard-Westlake’s senior quarter-back, at a quarterback camp. Th ey were doing drills, and Cohen ex-plained what he wanted: a good school with a good football team.

“Th ere’s no one behind me,” Kanoff replied, who had commit-ted to play quarterback at Princ-eton.

So, Cohen sent a Harvard-Westlake athletic director an email with some tape. He applied and got in.

Aft er his fi rst summer prac-tice, he went home with his new playbook. Th e Wolverines ran a no-huddle off ense. Th ere were plays to learn, but harder still were the hand signals. All week, he prac-ticed with his dad and his friends. Th ey would play coach, and he would play quarterback, getting the signals and making the play.

At the end of that week, they had a 7-on-7 scrimmage. Th e fi rst play, Cohen looked to the sideline for the signal, but all he saw was a blur.

He nodded like he understood, dropped back and threw an inter-ception.

“I had no idea what [Coach] was doing,” Cohen says. “He was going so fast.”

Cohen didn’t know if he would be able to play in the opener against Loyola his sophomore year until the Tues-day before the game. Th ere was a holdup with his eligibility aft er the transfer. Th at week of practice, Co-hen kept making small mistakes. He was trying to get everything under control.

It seemed like the entire school came out to see that game, the big-gest in school history. When Co-hen ran out, he was excited, ready to see himself against real competi-

tion.“Th is is real football,” he

thought. “Th is is what I’ve been looking for.”

Th is was a rivalry, but a lopsid-ed one. Harvard-Westlake can beat Loyola in debate competitions and Science Bowls. Harvard-Westlake is the nerd school, Loyola is for the jocks. Loyola, the six-time state championship winners. Harvard-Westlake, who rarely makes a play-off run.

Th e game started out slowly in the August heat, as the Wolver-ines methodically running the ball down Loyola’s throat. It wasn’t un-til the second drive that they threw the ball. All game long, Cohen ran and threw the ball around Loyola’s defense, but he had no idea what he was doing. On a read option, he would make the wrong read but run around the linebacker and fi nd the end zone anyway.

“What’s so special about that game, personally, is I was just play-ing,” he says. “Not having any idea what I was doing.”

At the end of the fourth quar-ter, he took a knee and hugged his senior center. Th e players on the sideline ran out towards him, and then came the fans, his new classmates, and they all celebrated there at the center of the fi eld. A school that didn’t care about foot-ball transformed into a Texas high school for one night. Th is was Friday Night Lights. Th is was real football.

And, with a sophomore star at the helm, it seemed to just be be-ginning.

The next four games followed a simi-lar pattern. Th e crowds were as big as they had ever been, and the Wolverines played the best football they ever had. When they played Sylmar, Time Warner televised it as their game of the week, and they won 65-24, now 4-0. Aft er every game, Cohen would have to wait before heading into the locker room. Newspaper reporters want-ed interviews. At school, everyone was talking about the new kid.

Th e next big game was Serra. Th e same Serra that sends players to USC year aft er year. Th e same

Serra that had won two state titles in three years and was looking to make that three in four. Th e Wol-verines knew they could win that game. Th ey were just waiting to prove it.

But fi rst they had to beat Pali-sades High at homecoming, a game they knew they would win as well. It was homecoming, aft er all. Th e team you schedule for homecom-ing is a team you know you can beat.

All game long, Cohen couldn’t take his eyes off of the Ferris wheel in the end zone. Th ere were carni-val games everywhere and senior girls. He had plans to go to a party aft erwards, maybe see one of those senior girls.

Early in the fourth quarter, Co-hen looked at the scoreboard aft er a Pali touchdown. It was 31-11, and they were losing. When the quarter ended, it read 45-18.

He let himself get distracted. He let his team get distracted. He failed, he says, as a as a leader. He failed himself.

As the Ferris wheel taunted him in the end zone, and the senior girls looked on, Cohen hung his head with the shock and weight of failure. He did not go to any parties that night.

The next Friday, the Serra game was, in every respect, a disaster. Th e Wolverines lost 63-7. Th e cocki-ness was gone. Th e swagger was history. Th ey were once a team on the rise, but now they had no di-rection.

“We were so confi dent,” Co-hen remembers. “And I think that’s part of why we lost to Pali. We were thinking, ‘Oh Pali, we’re just gonna beat them.’ And then Serra, once we lost to Pali, it was like, ‘We just gotta get through the Serra game.’”

Th e next week, against St. Paul, Cohen was standing on the side-line about to go in. He remembers feeling very ready, ready to shake the stigma of only being an ath-lete and become a real high school quarterback. He had worked for this moment, by himself in the weight room and on the fi eld with quarterback coaches, ever since he made two kids miss in Pop Warner.

He was going to make a step in this game, one step closer to college.

He jogged on the fi eld, and bungled the snap. He got it under control and started running in the open fi eld. He made a cut, and his knee tightened and the pain began. Th at’s when he heard it the fi rst time. A bite into a carrot. Dead in his tracks, he looked around.

“What was that sound?” he thought to himself, scanning the fi eld for a defender. “Did I just get tackled?”

Nobody had touched him.On the sideline, he thought to

himself, “Worst case scenario.”He knew it was torn.

Cohen discounts his junior season. He understood the game better men-tally, but he was lost physically. All summer he worked on rehabbing his knee so that he could play. He wasn’t trying to get back to where he was as a sophomore, he was just trying to get well enough. He missed that season’s Loyola game still nursing the torn ACL, and his team lost without him.

When he came back in week two, he was clearly not the same player he once was, and his Wol-verines lost in the fi rst round of the playoff s.

“This is the fi rst time I can say that I truly put in 110 percent this sum-mer,” Cohen says now, looking out over the fi eld that was the backdrop for his high school career.

He had already rehabbed his knee. Now it was time to strength-en it, to get it back to where it once was and then better than it ever had been. He needed his knee for his senior season. He needed his knee to play himself into a college scholarship off er.

He lift ed with the team and without the team. He stayed late aft er practice working on throws. He was quicker than ever, stronger than ever, better than ever.

In the weight room, he fi nally was squatting the same weight he had as a sophomore, but he wasn’t happy. He wanted to squat anoth-er fi ve pounds more, so come the season opener against Loyola, he could shock everybody again.

MOVING FORWARD

STANDBY: Marshal Cohen ’16

looks out over the fi eld before

the start of the game against

Loyola. Under his command at

quarterback, the Wolverines

made the playoff s last year.



When Cohen woke up the morning of this year’s Loyola game, he wasn’t excited. He wasn’t nervous either. He was ready. Ready to show ev-eryone what he’d been working so hard towards. Ready to show him-self that all the work was worth it. Ready to prove that his sophomore year wasn’t a fl uke. Ready to earn a Division-I off er.

“Th ey haven’t beaten us when I’ve played,” he would tell people. It was a joke, but he was right.

About three hours before kick-off , the team gathered in the weight room to focus and relax. Th ey were doing breathing exercises. Cohen sat there, in the same room where he had fought his own body. In the same room where Cohen became Cohen again. In the same room where he caught a ghost.

Inhale, exhale.“All I have to do is be myself,”

he thought.Inhale, exhale.“You’re gonna kill it.”Inhale, exhale.“You’re gonna tear your ACL

again.”He pushed it out of his mind as

quickly as it came.“Get out the negative thoughts.

You’re ready. You deserve this. Th at would be crazy. Th at would be the worst.”

Inhale, exhale.It wasn’t long before it was

time to play.

Cohen threw an interception on the fi rst drive. He was trying to force a play, he says, trying to make some-thing out of nothing. He didn’t let the game come to him.

When he got off the fi eld, he expected his coach to yell at him. But instead, his coach explained what he did wrong, without pop-ping any veins in his forehead.

Cohen didn’t need to be yelled at anymore. He knew he had messed up, and he knew how to recover. He wasn’t just an athlete anymore. He was a quarterback.

He was at school when his mom called him with the news a week aft er the injury.

“Doctor says it’s torn,” she said over the phone. “I’m so sorry.”

Whenever people would come up to him at school and ask him if it was his ACL again, he would tell them he hadn’t gotten his MRI re-sults back. He didn’t want anyone to know it was over. He didn’t want anyone to believe it was over. He wanted to preserve the same hope that, a week before, drove he and his coach to talk about him making a return by the end of the season, putting on the black and red one more time.

But those dreams were dead now. He texted his coach the news.

“I’m sorry,” Coach texted back. “Now we have to fi gure out the next step.”

Over the last few summers, Cohen has interned at Good Samaritan Hospital, working with a doctor in the operating room. It’s something he loves, and it’s something he wants to do. He wants to help peo-ple hands-on. He wants to help fu-ture Cohen Cohens get back on the football fi eld to chase their dreams. He wants to be pre-med in college, so maybe it’s not a bad thing that he didn’t get the Division-I of-fer he wanted. In Division-III, it’s academics and then football, and there’s still football.

He has spent over a hundred hours in the operating room these past years, learning by watching. He’ll watch a fi ve-hour surgery, and he never gets bored.

The week after the season opener and the week aft er the last high school football game he will ever play, Cohen Cohen stands in the middle of practice, fenced in by boys in pads ramming at full speed, reckless and alive. Cohen is in shorts and T-shirt, and under those shorts you can see a neoprene knee brace there to help him stand.

He watches his team warm up, and he watches somebody else lead the pre-practice chant, and then he watches a freshman take his place behind center in shotgun.

Cheetah west! Cheetah west! Monday-Monday-Monday! Down, set…hut!

A whistle blows, and the team runs off in every direction to get water, to prepare for another play and then another and then another.

An old teammate heads for Cohen. “How’s the knee, man?”

“It’s okay.”“Hey, I’m real sorry you have

to go through all this again. Th at sucks,” and the teammate is staring at the brace around Cohen’s knee, not even pretending to look his old quarterback in the eyes.

“It sucks,” Cohen says, and the players are done with their water break and heading straight for him now. He is standing where the next drill is about to begin, and he is just another obstacle in their way. “It really, really sucks.”

He makes his way to his coach and asks if he could get some ex-ercise on the stationary bike. He talked to some Division III coaches earlier, and they said they were still interested. He has to get healthy. He has to play football again.

So, as receivers and defensive backs gab at one another, and line-men and linebackers hurl their bodies at one another, Cohen Co-hen heads past the locker rooms to an empty work out room. He climbs on a stationary bike and starts pedaling.


BACK IN BLACK: Marshal Cohen ’16

talks to the head referee before

kickoff against archrival Loyola

on Aug. 28. After football, Cohen

hopes to become an orthopedic

surgeon.

ON THE RUN: Marshal Cohen ’16

scrambles against the Loyola

Cubs on Aug. 28. On a similar

play later that game, Cohen

tried to cut, tearing his ACL.

Cohen tore the same ACL as a

sophomore.

BENNETT GROSS/BIG REDBENNETT GROSS/BIG RED


WOLVERINES COME OUT TO PLAY

BY BENNETT GROSS, CARINA MARX, DARIO MADYOON AND RIAN RATNAVALE

HOMECOMING 2015

It’s the biggest day of the year for Harvard-Westlake athletics. For the trio of Wolverine teams playing on Homecoming, it’s the best chance players have to perform in front of parents, alumni and mobs of Fanatics. For fi eld hockey, it’s a chance to turn around a tough season. For volleyball, it’s a non-league tuneup during the team’s hottest start in years. For football, it’s a crucial league matchup that could decide the Wolverines’ playoff hopes.


Aft er defeating Westches-ter High School last year 49-9 on Homecoming night, the Wolver-ines’ football team is looking to make it two consecutive victories on Homecoming.

Th e team is only comprised of 46 total players because there is no junior varsity squad this fall, so all 14 of the freshman in the football program have the opportunity to play varsity.

In the squad’s fi rst game, the Wolverines were defeated by archrival Loyola 34-0. Starting quarterback Marshal Cohen ’16 was injured during the team’s sec-ond drive of the game.

In the team’s next four non-league games against Jeff erson, Granada Hills, Taft and Westches-ter, the Wolverines won three of the four games, only losing in their fi rst true road game to Taft .

Harvard-Westlake then won their fi rst Angelus League game against St. Paul in stunning fash-ion, coming back from a 21-point defi cit with under eight minutes remaining in the game.

Th e results from the St. Francis game were not available as of press time.

“Homecoming is the game that we get the most fans, so even though we are always motivated for league games, this one is extra spe-cial for us,” Defensive End Dietrich Tribull ’16 said.

Th is year’s Homecoming game against La Salle will have big impli-cations for how the Wolverines will fi nish in Angelus League play and whether they make the playoff s or not.

“Homecoming is always a fun time of year for any high school and is obviously built around the football game and we are excited for this year’s challenge against a competitive La Salle team,” Head Coach Scot Ruggles said. “We are going to do everything we can to get an important league victory. Since this is a league game, we ex-pect La Salle to come out with a lot of intensity.”

Quarterback Noah Rothman ’16, who took over for Cohen, has completed more than half of his passes, and has thrown for 524 yards and six touchdowns in three starts this season. Not only is Roth-man the team’s leading passer, but he is second on the team in rush-ing with 188 yards and two touch-downs.

“Th is is the fi rst time that I am going to be playing on varsity football on Homecoming, so I am

really excited to just get out there and put on a show for all of the fans watching,” Defensive End Ben Cooper ’16 said.

Th e defense is anchored by Mike Mapes ’16 and Eric Bradley ’16 who are both senior captains and lead the team in tackles. Th ey are also helped by Princeton la-crosse commit Phil Th ompson ’16 who not only plays on the defensive line, but is also the team’s starting running back.

Th omas Glover ’18 is leading the team in rushing yards with 448 and an average of 11.2 yards per carry. He also is averaging almost 90 yards rushing per game.

“I am really excited for Home-coming,” Glover said. “I am just go-ing to try and have fun out there. At the end of the day it is no diff erent than any other league game, and I am just going to do what I have been doing so far this season.”


WOLVERINES COME OUT TO PLAY

Football

JUST KICKIN’ ITKicker Josh Lyons ’17 boots the opening kickoff against St. Paul High School on Oct. 9. With the Wolverines’ 28-21 win over the Swordsmen, the Wolverines moved to an overall record of 4-2.

BY THE NUMBERS: HOMECOMING

2014

49-9FOOTBALL WIN

AGAINST WESTCHESTER

5-0FIELD HOCKEY WIN

AGAINST GLENDORA

1-3VOLLEYBALL LOSS

AGAINST OAKS CHRISTIAN


BY BENNETT GROSS

HOMECOMING 2015


TAKE A SHOTClaire Quinn ’16 (left) moves the ball and Taylor Jones ’18 (right) challenges a defender during the Wolverines’ 4-0 loss to Edison High School on Sept. 8. The Wolverines will take on Glendora High School, who defeated the squad 2-1 earlier this year, on Homecoming.

As Emma Wasserman ’16 stepped on to the fi eld for the fi rst time since sophomore year to play fi eld hockey, she was nervous. She had not played for two years and was trying to keep up with the fast pace of the varsity team, yet her teammates were still grateful and excited to have such a pivotal member of their team return.

Th e forward was the top scorer on the team for both her freshman and sophomore years, but Wasser-man decided to stop playing and manage the team at the beginning of junior year. As she returns, she is working on building up her endur-ance and remembering her stick skills.

“I missed being a part of a team playing the sport I loved,” she said.

Now, as she approaches her last Homecoming game, she is nervous about the heat and certain skills the

squad needs to work on. Emotions run high for the senior, as she looks to extend her legacy on the fi eld.

“I’m excited about playing [Glendora] again,” Wasserman said. “I’ve gotten a feel for how ev-

eryone on the team plays now, and I defi nitely think we have what it takes to beat them.”

Th is is out of the ordinary for the rest of the team as well. Th e game against Glendora on Oct. 24

will be the squad’s last regular sea-son game before the playoff s. Head Coach Erin Creznic said that the addition of a crowd won’t feel pres-suring for the team, but will help them with the drive they need to play their very best.

Th e last time the squad played

Glendora on Sept. 29, they lost in overtime. According to Creznic, the girls held the lead throughout most of the game, but couldn’t maintain it. Th is is something Creznic would like the team to work on, in order

to avoid it in future situations.On Senior Day, the team will

be playing Bonita, who they lost to 2-0 last time they played Oct. 6 be-cause of the same issue. Th ey played well for most of the game, but there was a period of about fi ve minutes where they let their guards down and couldn’t come back from it.

“As a team, we’re practicing a lot and making sure we’re all com-municating and on the same page when on the fi eld,” Wasserman said.

In practices, the team has been working on both off ensive and defensive drills. Th is is not only to prepare for the Homecoming game, but to prepare for if they go deep into the playoff s. Th e two main problems Creznic focuses on in practices are tipping and being outnumbered. Tipping is making sure the ball gets inside the goal from a close angle. Th e most com-mon outnumbering situation is when there are more opposing of-fenders than defenders on the fi eld. She had noticed this tends to hap-pen a lot to her team.

“I think they’re going to be fi red up, and I think we will be ready,” Creznic said.

I THINK THEY’RE GOING TO BE FIRED UP. I THINK WE’LL BE READY.

-ERIN CREZNICHEAD COACH

“NATHANSON’S

Field Hockey

CARINA MARX/BIG REDCARINA MARX/BIG RED

BY CARINA MARX


BUMP ITBella Hedley ’18 prepares to pass in the volleyball team’s 3-0 win at Notre Dame on Sept. 29.

It’s Sept. 15, and the Wolver-ines step back onto the hardwood of Taper Gymnasium for their fi rst home game of the season. Th e last time they played a game in Wolverine territory, it ended in disappointment: they got swept by league rival Flintridge Sacred Heart, leaving them with a 2-6 re-cord in league play.

It left a bitter taste in their mouth, but they didn’t let it shake them up coming into this year. Th ey didn’t lose faith. Th ey had to trust the process, their preparation and their ability.

Coming in to this year, there were no more excuses. It didn’t matter that it was just their second year in a new and improved Mis-sion League. All they wanted to do was win and improve.

Fast forward, and the Wolver-ines are off to a hot start with a 3-1 record in league play, and, perhaps more importantly, a 3-0 victory against Flintridge Sacred Heart at home.

Th e Wolverines set the tone for this season of success much earlier, however, practicing since July 27 and participating in several tourna-ments early on in the season.

“Th e tournaments we have played have without a doubt pre-pared us for this season,” Setter Kaira Muraoka-Robinson ’16 said. “Th e Oxnard tournament really showed us the potential we have together and really inspired us to just keep getting aft er it. Th e Du-rango tournament on the other hand showed us what we needed to work on as a team. With those two combinations in mind, we re-ally pushed ourselves to become better all around.”

Despite their early success, the Wolverines are still hungry to win the Mission League this year aft er the addition of Marymount and Marlborough last year.

“We want to keep improving

throughout the season and build on our individual skills and playing as a team,” Captain and Libero Zoe Baxter ’16 said. “We really value not being complacent because a successful team keeps evolving throughout the season.”

Th e squad won its home open-er against Santa Barbara in straight sets Sept. 15, signaling another step in the right direction.

But the real test would be in their fi rst league game against Notre Dame two weeks later. It wasn’t the preseason anymore: this was the real deal. It was time to see if all the work they had put in fi -nally paid off .

Th e Wolverines dominated the game, sweeping the Knights aft er mounting an impressive comeback in the second set, proving that they were mentally tough enough to not only hang in, but to dominate the Mission League this year.

Th ey faced similar adversity in their fi rst league home match as well, but were still able to come out with a clean sweep of league rival Marlborough.

“We were playing nervous at fi rst, but by the end of that set, we knew that in order to win we had to play together and play for each other—not worry about who was on the other side of the net. Th at was our mindset going out into the second game. We played without a fear of losing,” Baxter said.

Now that the season is in full swing, the team has shaken off some of the nerves that may have accounted for slow starts in previ-ous games and they are looking to capitalize.

Last year, the Wolverines left the fl oor of Taper Gymnasium de-moralized and defeated aft er losing 1-3 to Oaks Christian on Home-coming on Sept. 27.

Th e loss would set the tone for the rest of their season.

Th e team fell short of a league championship and did not even make the playoff s.

Th e Wolverines fi nished 13-17 overall as well as 2-6 in Mission League play.

With Homecoming around the corner, however, the Wolver-ines are ready to go, with the hope that they can bring their journey from setback to success full circle against St. Lucy’s on Oct. 24.

VolleyballBY DARIO MADYOON AND RIAN RATNAVALE

DARIO MADYOON/BIG RED

18 •BIG RED FALL 2014

When Josie Baker ’18 finished her second round at River Ridge Golf Course Oct. 27, 2014, she thought she had just missed a great oppor-tunity.

Baker had shot 78 on the first day and was hopeful. Then she shot 86 on the second day, ending what she had believed to be an oppor-tunity for her to make CIF Regionals as a fresh-man. However, Baker later learned that she was tied and was entered in a sudden death playoff match for the last of six spots advancing to CIF Regionals.

Baker made the most of this opportunity and ended the playoff on the first hole.

“I would say that this was the defining mo-ment of my golf career,” Baker said. “It was my first major accomplishment, and it was really great to be able to play in such a high level tour-nament in my freshman year.”

Baker won the playoff, and was the only golfer on the girls’ golf team to qualify for CIF Regionals.

This victory was the first in a serious of ac-complishments Baker achieved over the past couple of years.

“I started playing golf when I was five,” Bak-er said. “But I didn’t start playing seriously until about two years ago.”

In her efforts to improve, Baker switched to a new coach based in Colorado and installed a putting green in her front yard. Baker spends one to three hours each day on the putting green trying to become the best player she can be.

Over the past year, Baker played in 2 Ameri-can Junior Golf Association events, in which she finished in 24th and 10th place. She is currently ranked 600th in the nation.

“I plan to play in college, hopefully for a Di-vision I school,” Baker said. “My hope is that I can play professionally, but I would have to work really hard to get to that point, so I am just going to try as hard as I can to try to reach that goal.”

Baker also states that playing with the team has helped her improve the weaker aspects of her game.

“Playing on the team has really helped me improve,” Baker said. “It has given me the op-portunity to both hone my mental game and learn from my teammates. Just being able to be helped on a putt or help another teammate read a putt has helped me improve my short game tremendously, and I don’t think I would be this good without them.”

Baker’s teammates also expressed their ad-miration of Baker’s game and mentality.

“Josie is by far one of the, if not the, most talented players I’ve ever seen,” said teammate Emma Kateman ’17. “She is 100% dedicated to the team and always gives it her all. She genu-inely loves the sport, which is rare to find. This season she has consistently been one of our top scorers, and I know that she will lead our way to number one.”

Josie BakerSophomore Golf

Superstar

BY BRYANT WU



VIRTUAL HATS AND VIRTUAL SPORTS

With the rising popularity of video games around the world many gamers have become involved in competitive gaming. Most Esports, the term for competitive gaming, have fans watching games on streaming sites like Twitch.tv, but recently Esport leagues have signed deals with major television broadcast companies in the United States and abroad. Esports is a multi-billion dollar industry and continues to grow as new games are made and new players join. One tournament in Seattle in 2015 had a prize pool of $18 million. Popular games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 have major tournaments that net more than one million viewers each game of the tournament. One of the biggest companies in Esports, the Valve Corporation, developed three major competitive video games: Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2.

Valve released Team Fortress 2 in 2007. Since then, it has improved and refined the mechanics of the game, which is a team-based first person shooter with different classes each with their own weapons and special abilities. As the game grew more popular, a competitive game mode was created called sixer. Competitive games consists of two six player teams that battle for control of the map.

Zach Belatache ‘16 played Team Fortress 2 on a competitive team called Pootis Force. He

played the scout character, who works as a utility player for the team. Most competitive teams consist of two soldiers, two scouts, one medic and one demo man. Belatache played in the Steel division of the United Gaming Clan (UGC). UGC is an organization which creates leagues for competitive players to play other teams. After playing the game for two years, Belatache was invited to join a competitive team.

“I was the second most inexperienced player on the team; for example, our Demoman, who was our best player, bought TF2 the day it came out,” Belatache said.

In his role as scout, Belatache moved around the map, gathering the whereabouts of the enemy players so his team could move in and take them out.

“When I joined the team, I mostly did it for fun; a guy in a public server I was playing in said I was pretty good and asked if I wanted to play as a sub for a casual team, so I joined,” Belatache said.

Eventually, the team became more competitive and raised its expectations for Belatache, meaning that Belatache would have to become more serious and invest more time in the game.

“In TF2, to play at a high level, Scout mains like me have to be able to off-class, or play as other classes a lot, especially Pyro and Engineer. At the time I was a terrible engineer, so I opted to leave the team rather than spend hours on end practicing a class I didn’t really have fun

playing. So really it was all about fun for me; I just played competitive when I had fun doing it, and stopped when I stopped having fun,” Belatache said.

Another aspect of Team Fortress 2 is cosmetic items. Generally these items come in the form of hats, which players equip to their character to alter their appearance. Although they do not change the actual gameplay or offer players any advantage, they are still prized in the game as a status symbol. There are currently 1159 different hats in the game, and each of them has a different value in real money. Players can either earn these items through playing the game or buy them from other players on the

ingame market.“I have [around] 10 hats; all but one I got

through trading,” Belatache said. “I think trading is a really great system; it let me get over $90 worth of in-game items, but I’ve only spent a total of $8.50 on TF2 stuff. Plus I’ve actually made money by selling stuff I didn’t want, which is pretty cool.”

Hats are unlocked in cases that drop during the game. Rare hats can even sell for thousands of dollars on Team Fortress 2 trading websites. David Aaron ’17 has an “unusual” hat which sells for over $1000 on trade sights.

“The first unusual hat I unboxed was worth less than my current one, but I ended up selling my first unusual for less than market price because I was new to trading,” Aaron said.

THE VALVE CORPORATION

BY CAMERON STINE & OLIVER RICHARDS

nathanson’s

Zach Belatache ’16

CHARLES


ROWING ON THE

Student rowers Alex Oser ’16 and Jenna Th ompson ’16 raced in the 51st Annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts. Th e regatta was hosted Oct. 17-18 and served as a temporary home for high school, collegiate and professional crews from around the world. Th e 5-ki-lometer course has crews row on the Charles River as they pass Boston landmarks such as Boston University, Harvard Business School, Harvard Square, Harvard Stadium and Cambridge Boathouse.

Oser and Th ompson both raced in the women’s high school varsity eight competition, the top event for high school women’s eight-person boats. Women at that level are also eligible to race in the junior varsity eight event and the third varsity eight event. Oser and Th ompson’s boat raced against approximately 80 other crews in their event.

Oser and Th ompson are both seasoned rowers, with seven years of experience between them. Th ompson has been rowing since her freshman year. Along the way, she has rowed for the USA junior national team and has been in multiple nationally ranked boats. Oser has been rowing since her sophomore year, and she has also rowed in many nationally ranked boats. Recently, Th ompson committed to row at Dartmouth University, and Oser is also being recruited to row by universities across the country.

“I honestly believe that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without rowing,” Th ompson said. “It’s made me a better friend and a better student and has taught me the value of hard work and determination.”

Both athletes have trained with the Marina Aquatic Center Junior Rowing team, under the tutelage of women’s coach Zohar Abramovitz.

“Th ey both bring a great deal of experience,” Abramovitz said. “Th ey’re both outstanding competitors and have really grown into being leaders on the team.”

Th e program consists of approximately 150 high school students from across the Los Angeles area.

Harvard-Westlake has always had a number of students involved in this program, with six Wolverines competing for the team during the 2015-16 season. Last year, Riley Spain ’15 graduated and now rows for Stanford University, Ethan Drapac ’15 for Santa Clara University and Sa-brina Zaks ’15 for Columbia University.

Th is year, the Harvard-Westlake representation on the team consists of three freshman, one sophomore and two seniors. Th ompson was a member of the women’s varsity eight last year, in which she had the oppor-tunity to travel to Florida for the US Rowing Youth National Champion-ships. Her boat placed ninth in the entire nation.

Th e Marina Aquatic Center, or MAC, varsity teams have always been very successful since the organization’s founding in the 1990’s. Th e pro-gram has sent boats to the Head of the Charles Regatta for the last nine years. Last year, the women’s varsity eight placed sixth out of 85, fi nishing in 18 minutes and fi ve seconds.

“We are just hoping to have a clean race. It’s a tough course with a lot of things that can go wrong out there,” Abramovitz said. “But if everything goes well we defi nitely have the ability to fi nish in the top fi ve.”

Oser and Th ompson both commit huge amounts of their time to train for races. Th ey both practice Monday through Friday from 4:15-6:45 p.m., and Sunday mornings from 7-10 a.m. Th e practices usually consist of a warm-up, and then roughly an hour and a half of rowing.

“Each race is like a piece of art, if one thing goes wrong it can mess up an entire piece, so we have to practice a lot to make it perfect,” Oser said. “It is a really big time commitment, but performing well feels amazing, and it makes it all worth it. I really couldn’t see my life without it.”

Results of the race were not available as of press time.

ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOATAlex Oser ’16 rowed in the 51st Annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts on Oct. 17-18 for the Marina Aquatic Center. She rowed alongside Jenna Thompson ’16.

BY ELLIS BECKER

I HONESTLY BE-LIEVE THAT I

WOULDN’T BE THE PERSON I AM TODAY WITHOUT ROWING.

-JENNA THOMPSON

“NATHANSON’S

Jenna � ompson ’16

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF ALEX OSER


By Dario Madyoon and Rian Ratnavale

Th ere’s a common saying that in high school, students have to choose between good grades, good social life or good sleep. For many student athletes at Harvard-Westlake, they have to shoulder the burden of working towards be-ing good at their respective sports as well.

Still, Wolverine athletes aren’t the type to limit themselves. Instead of choosing to sac-rifi ce, say, grades for their sport or their social lives, they choose to push through their trials, no matter how much time it takes. Last year, while starting on the varsity soccer team, Jon Nelson ’16 took exclusively honors classes, including A.P. Physics 1 and A.P. B.C. Calculus 11. Despite taking one of the hardest possible schedules in the school, Nelson found a way to succeed in the classroom and on the fi eld.

“I think in general you have to build up a certain amount of willpower to do anything out of the ordinary, but I’ve been better at handling my challenges on and off the fi eld so far this year” Nelson said.” Its incredibly tough .Most of the time during soccer season, I get home be-tween 9:00 and 9:30, and you really need to stay up late. Procrastination isn’t an option”.

For many students the adjustment in ju-

nior year can be especially hard. Along with a jump up from JV to Varsity, 11th grade is also when many students start to take A.P.s and other college-level classes. Th e jump does, however, provide a chance for kids to succeed in the face of adversity.

“It wasn’t really a problem on freshman and JV, but now that I’m on varsity it can be really hard to balance,” volleyball player Megan Bar-num ’17 said. “Just the other night my coach had us stay and watch JV play and then our game started late so I got home around 9:30 and had all my homework to do. I was up until probably 2 am. While its really hard work, I fi nd it grati-fying. I wouldn’t trade being on the volleyball team for anything. It just makes this beginning part of the year stressful and tiring”.

One of the largest obstacles for ambitious student-athletes is learning how to incorporate free time into their schedule.

Unfortunately, athletes who want to both play their sport at a high level and achieve aca-demic excellence, can’t aff ord the luxury of tak-ing time to simply relax.

“You have to use all the time that you have,” fi eld hockey player Claire Stevens ’16 said. “Th ere’s no in between. I have to be doing homework or fi eld hockey work. If you want to do well in sports and in school there’s not much time you can commit to anything else”.

Th ompson was in the middle school musi-cal in seventh and eighth grade, but when she didn’t earn a spot in the cast in the beginning of her freshman year, her mom persuaded her to try rowing.

Her older sister had rowed in high school, and Th ompson thought it would be a temporary activity. Once she started, she couldn’t stop, she said.

Now, Th ompson practices six times a week for three hours each day at Marina del Rey.

As she and her teammates prepare for the national championship, they practice even more than usual.

“Th e whole experience of being on the team and going to the event was great,” Th ompson said. “I learned a lot about myself and got a lot more disciplined. I’m really glad I did it.”

Work before playWork before play

HENRY VOGEL/BIG RED

KICKING AND SCREAMINGjon Nelson ’16 makes a play for the ball in a league match against Alemany. The boys’ soccer team won the game 2-0 en route to a 14-4-1 record last season in 2014-2015.

QB NOAH ROTHMAN

RB PHILLIP THOMPSON

C NICK RICHMOND

RG IVAN RODRIGUEZ

RT ERIC BRADLEY

WR ZAC HARLESTON

WR ALEX BARNUM

WR NICK O’BRIEN

WR CAMERON JONES

LT SAM KELLY

LG ODIN HERNANDEZ

OFFENSEQB NOAH ROTHMAN

RB PHILLIP THOMPSON

C NICK RICHMOND

RG IVAN RODRIGUEZ

RT ERIC BRADLEY

WR ZAC HARLESTON

WR ALEX BARNUM

WR NICK O’BRIEN

WR CAMERON JONES

LT SAM KELLY

LG ODIN HERNANDEZ

OFFENSE

EMILY RAHHAL/BIG RED

DE DIETRICH TRIBULL

DT PHILLIP THOMPSON

LB MIKE MAPES

LB NICK RICHMOND

SS MAX ROBERTSON

CB ALEX BARNUM

CB CAMERON JONES

FS THOMAS GLOVER

DE BEN COOPER

DEFENSE

LB CAMERON WELTHER

SS SULTAN DANIELS

DE DIETRICH TRIBULL

DT PHILLIP THOMPSON

DEFENSE

LB CAMERON WELTHER

DT PHILLIP THOMPSON

LB CAMERON WELTHER

O n the fi eld or on the court, and in the locker room, both girls’ volleyball Cap-tain Josie Treadwell ’16

and football captain Mike Mapes ’16 have been on both sides of their respective teams’ demand-ing level of commitment. Mul-tiple factors contribute to their success as leaders, but one ele-ment, having role models to look up to when they were underclass-men, is clearly where their man-agement stems from.

From the beginning of their athletic careers, both players have been exposed to eff ective leaders. As a sophomore just starting out on the varsity squad, Treadwell quickly learned from her team captains that in order to be suc-cessful, she would one day need to make the same sacrifi ces that they had made.

“I think that following in the footsteps of past captains was re-ally important for me,” Treadwell said. “I really looked up to Ni-cole, Jo, and Mariel my sopho-more year, and then Rachel and Mila last year. Th ey set a really good example of leadership and what it takes to be a captain, such as the sacrifi ces you have to make for your teammates”.

Aft er witnessing fi rsthand the benefi ts of supportive and inclusive leaders as a freshman, Mapes aims to bring the type of leadership he experienced to the new underclassmen. Th e se-nior linebacker recognizes that younger players will sometimes make mistakes, but that its bet-ter to use positivity in the huddle rather than negative reinforce-ment.

“As a freshman, seniors like Chad Kanoff and Alex Cadiff went out of there way to make sure that I felt included on a team with only two other freshmen,” Mapes said. “ I try to do the same thing for the young guys this year. I celebrate with them when they make a good play, and when they screw up, I try to calmly show them how to avoid the same mistake next time. Making sure the young guys feel included and confi dent is the biggest key to both their and our team’s

STEPPING INTO


BY ELLY CHOI ANDRIAN RATNAVALE

THE ALPHA ROLE

SERVING FOR THE WINJosie Treadwell ’16 prepares to serve during the girls’ volleyball team’s straight set win against FSHA on Oct. 8.

BIG RED HOMECOMING ISSUE 2015 • 25

BY ELLY CHOI ANDRIAN RATNAVALE

success”.Both leaders stressed the im-

portance of not only being vocal captains, but also leading by ex-ample and keeeping composure during tough times when de-scribing the means of success in being an eff ective captain.

“Th e biggest adjustment I have had to make since freshmen year is learning how to lead by ex-ample,” Mapes said. “ It easy to be a vocal leader and just tell people what to do, but it is much harder to actually show people what is expected. Th is means doing ev-

erything from staying composed during adversity to not taking plays off in practice because the younger guys are watching you”.

Treadwell also echoed this sentiment when talking about her leadership style.

“I think that it’s really impor-tant to lead; to be a vocal leader, and to have medium between your teammates and your coach-es,” Treadwell said. “It is also im-portant to lead by example on and off the court, and set a really high standard for my teammates. Just by doing that, I know we will

have a better chance to succeed, right off the bat”.

Both players were named Student Athletes of the Month for September by the Student Athlet-ic Advisory Committee (SAAC) for their contributions to their teams, further attesting to their leadership skills.

Mapes has recorded 53 tack-les, two sacks and an interception in six games for the Wolverines, anchoring the defense while mentoring a record amount of freshmen.

Treadwell has led the girls’

volleyball team to a 13-5 start, and is one of four players on the team to commit to play in col-lege.

As the teams keep progress-ing through their season, they will inevitable run into trials and tribulations on the path to suc-cess. However, both the football team and the volleyball team can go into the heart of their sched-ules knowing that they have two leaders with lots of experience, determination and most impor-tantly, a willingness to mentor their peers.

ALL PHOTOS PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HW ATHLETICS

FLYING IN FOR THE SACKMike Mapes ’16 celebrates a sack after the football team’s 44-23 victory against Jeff erson High School on Sept. 4.


WOLVERINEROUNDTABLE Big Red staff members give opinions on

major points in Wolverines sports

Q: Which player will surpise the most at Homecoming?

Reese: Caitlin Neapole ’16 is a three year varsity starter for the fi eld hockey team, and is leading the team as a captain this year. Along with the help of fellow se-niors Emma Wasserman ’16 and Claire Quinn ’16, Neapole looks

to bring a victory to the Wolver-ines on Homecoming day against Glendora. Th e squad is currently 0-1 against Glendora this sea-son and is looking for revenge heading into the heart of Sunset League play.

Q: Which team is poised to dominate?

Madyoon: Zac Harleston ’17 is defi nitely my pick as a breakout player for homecom-ing. I think he has all the physical tools to play wide receiver, and even though he’s had a somewhat slow start to the year, I think that

a veteran quarterback like Noah Rothman’16 will be able to get him the reps he needs to suc-ceed. He’s defi nitely a threat on the other side of the ball too. He has great ball skills and the right mindset to play cornerback.

Liker: Although the football team lost starting quarterback Marshal Cohen ’16 to injury, the team has embraced Noah Roth-man’s ’16 leadership, and has be-gun the season with an overall re-cord of 5-2 as of press time. Aft er the squad’s defeat to rival Loyola, the Wolverines have won fi ve of

their next six games, including a miraculous comeback to defeat Angelus League foe St. Paul. On the defensive end, team captain and middle linebacker Mike Mapes ’16 has spearheaded a de-fense which has been impressive so far. Th e team is looking to beat La Salle for a second straight year.

Seymour: Led by multiple committed seniors with several years of experience at the varsity level, the girls’ volleyball team is likely to go off in front of a rowdy Taper crowd against St. Lucy’s. With a 13-5 overall record as well as a 3-1 record in the Mission League, the girls are dominat-

ing the competition at all levels, and are poised to continue this success through the rest of the season. I think that Davidson-committed outside hitter and team captain Josie Treadwell ’16 will lead her team to a stunning victory in straight sets on Home-coming night.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HW ATHLETICS

IN THE HUDDLECaitlin Neapole ’16 (top) looks down the fi eld after a long pass vs Louisville on Sept. 24. Head Football Coach Scot Ruggles (right) talks to his team after a win vs Jeff erson on Sept. 4.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF HW ATHLETICS


Q: What is one bold prediction you have for Homecoming?

Q: Which underclassman will make the biggest contribution to their team?

Gross: Aft er losing leading rusher Garrett Robinson ’15 to graduation, the football team has relied on Th omas Glover ’18 to lead the team with 448 rush-ing yards and an average of 11.2 yards per carry. Not only has he been a leader in the backfi eld, but Glover has also played a sig-

nifi cant role on defense. He is third on the team with 23 tack-les and he also has 2.5 tackles for loss. Glover is tied for third on the team in touchdowns scored with three. In the Wolverines run-option off ense, he should have opportunities to pick up more yards and touchdowns.

Harleston: Look for Chloe Mueller ’19, the only freshman on the girls volleyball team to come up big in the Wolverines’ bout againt St. Lucy’s. As a stater on the front line, look for Muel-ler to follow in the footsteps of

her brother, Ray Mueller ’17, a forward on the basketball team, and dominate St. Lucy using her height and power. Expect the freshman to rack up a lot of kills in the matchup as she dominates the front line with her height.

Joe Levin Assistant Editor

Juliana Berger Assistant Editor

Dario MadyoonAssistant Editor

Jonathan SeymourEditor-in-Chief

Carina Marx Assistant Editor

Connor ReeseAssistant Editor

Emily Rahhal Assistant Editor

Bennett GrossEditor-in-Chief

Rian RatnavaleAssistant Editor

Jake LikerAssistant Editor

Rahhal: Th e girls’ volleyball team, which is 3-1 in the Mis-sion League and 13-5 overall will defeat St. Lucy’s High School in straight sets. Th e team is led by seniors Josie Treadwell ’16, Genny Th omas ’16, Zoe Baxter ’16 and Kaira Muraoka-Robert-son ’16, who are all committed

to play college volleyball. In the midst of league play, the squad gets to play a competitive St. Lu-cy’s team, which should be a good benchmark for where they stand compared to the rest of the CIF-Southern Section. Th e squad is looking to continue its domina-tion of the competition thus far.

Ratnavale: I predict that the fi eld hockey team will not only win against Glendora, a team they lost to 2-1 earlier in the year, but that they will shutout the Tar-tans in front of their home crowd. Look for fi rst-year varsity goalie

Elly Choi ’18 to record her fi ft h shutout of the season, and for Emma Wasserman ’16 and Claire Quinn ’16 to score in front of the homecrowd multiple times each. Th e team is fi ghting for a .500 overall record and a playoff birth.

Big Red Fall 2015

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